Young Animator of the Year UK 2026

Young Animator of the Year Awards 2026

The Young Animator of the Year Awards are back, with a remit to foster and encourage emerging animation talent in the UK. 

This free nationwide competition invites young animators aged 11-22 to showcase their skills in stop-motion, 2D or 3D animation. The deadline is 1 Sept 2026. 

The successful winning films will premiere in November at the Manchester Animation Festival, the UK’s largest animation event.  As always, we encourage our students here at Animation Apprentice to enter competitions like this one. 

"Young Arrows" Animation Awards Now Open

The "Young Arrows" animation awards are open

Calling all Animation Apprentice graduates working in the advertising industry - The "Young Arrows" animation awards are now open, and entry is completely free.  Up to three entries may be submitted. The "Young Arrows" awards are judged by media professionals in the UK.  To find out how to enter, download the PDF of the entry rules and regulations.   The deadline is September 3rd. 

Young Animator of The Year Competition 2025

Young Animator of the Year Competition 2025

There is still time to enter the Young Animator of the Year Competition 2025.  

The Competition, created by Access VFX and supported by Screen Skills, BAFTA and the BAA Awards, is judged by professional animators. Winning films will be announced and premiered at the Manchester Animation festival.  Entry must be completed by September 1st, and is open to animators in the UK aged 11-22.  You can find more about it here: https://younganimator.uk/competition #animation #YAYUK

Mark Masters Ranks No3 in 11 Second Club

 

Many congratulations to Animation Apprentice student Mark Masters on his successful entry into the March 11 Second Club - you can watch his animation "Visitor in Nature" above.  Mark's entry was ranked no 3 in this month's 11 Second Club (out of 126 entries) - a very impressive result.  "The 11 Second Club" competition is a monthly contest in which animators compete to animate the most inventive and entertaining take on a piece of dialogue. Mark Masters is currently taking our Masters' Degree in Animation, delivered with our university partner Buckinghamshire New University.

2023 Rookies Now Open

All of our graduating students at Animation Apprentice are encouraged to enter The Rookie Awards, the international competition for young creatives. The competition opens today, Tuesday March 7th 2023 - and the final deadline is 1st June.

The Rookies was founded in 2009 to "showcase the most talented student designers, illustrators, film makers, animators, developers, digital artists, and launch them into the career of their dreams." All our graduating students should enter.

11 Second Club December 2022

This month a number of our student animators are polishing their character animation skills by entering The 11 Second Club, the monthly character animation competition in which aspiring animators compete to win prizes and get their work noticed.   Animators from all over the world participate, animating a character speaking a line of dialogue, which is provided on the first day of every month by the club. 

Young Cartoonists of the Year Competition 2020

The Young Cartoonists of the Year Competition is back. 

Hosted by the Cartoon Museum, which has at last re-opened after its long Covid-19-slumber, the annual competition seeks to reward rising cartoon talent. 

Judges include leading cartoonists such as Martin Rowson (The Guardian), Christian Adams (Evening Standard), Banx (FT), Peter Brookes (The Times), Nick Newman (Private Eye), and Matt from the Daily Telegraph. 

If you can think of a more eminent list of cartoonists, I'd like to see it. 

There are two categories: Under 18 and Under 30; the deadline is 23 November 2020, and entries should be mailed in (old school Royal Mail) to the Cartoon Museum.  

Time to Enter the 2020 "Rookies"

At Animation Apprentice we encourage all of our students to enter The Rookies Awards, the international competition for young creatives, which opened on 7th March, and closes on 1st June.

The Rookies was founded in 2009 to "showcase the most talented student designers, illustrators, film makers, animators, developers, digital artists, and launch them into the career of their dreams."

This year the deadline is 1st June 2020, so there is plenty of time to start crafting a great project.

October 11 Second Club

Why not polish your character animation skills by entering The 11 Second Club, the monthly character animation competition in which aspiring animators compete to win prizes and get their work noticed.

Animators from all over the world participate, animating a character speaking a line of dialogue, which is provided on the first day of every month by the club.

Enter the Character Design Challenge!

Character Design Challenge!

Calling All Character Designers! There are just two days left to enter this month's Character Design Challenge!

The CDC is a bit like the Eleven Second Club, but for character designers. It launched in 2015 and already has over 25,000 thousand members.

This month's design challenge is .....Carnival of Venice! So what are you waiting for? Let's get designing!

Character Design Challenge!

Character Design Challenge!

Why not polish your design skills by entering the monthly Character Design Challenge?

It's a bit like the Eleven Second Club, but for character designers. The group started up in January 2015 and it already has over twenty five thousand members.

This month's design challenge is .....Harry Potter! So what are you waiting for? Let's get designing!

11 Second Club

Chicken or egg?

It's August! You could be heading for the beach to relax or, like many of our dedicated animators here at Animation Apprentice, you could be polishing your animation skills by entering The 11 Second Club, the monthly character competition in which aspiring animators compete to win prizes and get their work noticed.

Animators from all over the world participate, animating a character speaking a line of dialogue, which is provided on the first day of every month by the club. This month our students will tackle a question of philosophy: which came first, chicken or egg?

Introducing...Loop De Loop!

Here at Animation Apprentice we're excited about Loop De Loop, a bi-monthly animation challenge that's a bit like The 11 Second Club, but with a loopy twist.

Loop De Loop seeks to create "a community of creative folks working together for the greater good of looping animation". Whatever that is.

So, how do students get involved with Loop De Loop? And what's it for anyway?

April Eleven Second Club - Psych!

Here at Animation Apprentice we encourage all our student animators to enter The 11 Second Club, the monthly character animation competition in which aspiring animators practice their skills and get their work noticed.

Animators from all over the world participate, animating a character speaking a line of dialogue, which is provided on the first day of every month by the club.

This month the line of dialogue is taken from the TV Series Psych.

March 2016 Eleven Second Club!

Here at Animation Apprentice we encourage all our student animators to enter The 11 Second Club, the monthly character animation competition in which aspiring animators practice their skills and get their work noticed.

Animators from all over the world participate, animating a character speaking a line of dialogue, which is provided on the first day of every month by the club.

This month the line of dialogue is taken from the 2004 smash hit comedy Mean Girls. The lines are spoken by the characters Mrs George, played by Amy Poehler, and Cady, who was played by Lindsay Lohan.

February Eleven Second Club!

Here at Animation Apprentice we encourage all our student animators to enter The 11 Second Club, the monthly character animation competition in which aspiring animators practice their skills and get their work noticed.

Animators from all over the world participate, animating a character speaking (or sometimes singing) a line of dialogue, which is provided every month by the club.  This month's line of dialogue is all about....vegetarianism!

Why Not Enter The January 2016 Character Design Challenge?

Character Design Challenge!

Many animators enjoy designing (and possibly even modelling and rigging) their own characters.

So why not polish your design skills by entering the monthly Character Design Challenge?

It's a bit like the Eleven Second Club, but for character designers. The group only started up in January 2015 and it already has an astonishing twenty five thousand members.

This month's design challenge is .....Roller Derby! So what are you waiting for? Let's get designing!

January Eleven Second Club!

Here at Animation Apprentice we encourage all our student animators to enter the monthly Eleven Second Club, a character animation competition in which aspiring animators practice their skills and learn the craft of character performance. Animators from all over the world participate, animating a character speaking a line of dialogue, which is provided every month by the club. Best of all, entry is free! So what are you waiting for?  Let's start animating!

December 11 Second Club Competition Now Live!

Here at Animation Apprentice we encourage all our student animators to enter The 11 Second Club, the monthly character animation competition in which aspiring animators practice their skills and get their work noticed.  Animators from all over the world participate, animating a character speaking (or sometimes singing) a line of dialogue, which is provided every month by the club.  This month's theme is a musical number from the hit film "Les Miserables".

Time to Enter the November 11 Second Club Competition!

Yoda speaks. Copyright Disney

What are you doing this November to polish your animation skills? Here at Animation Apprentice we encourage all our students to enter The 11 Second Club, a monthly character animation competition in which aspiring animators practice their skills and get their work noticed.

Animators from all over the world participate, animating a character speaking a line of dialogue. Entry is free, and this month's competition continues with the recent Star Wars theme.

So what are you waiting for?  Let's get started!